"BTSTU" is a song by British songwriter and record producer Jai Paul. A demo recording of the song received widespread blog coverage throughout 2010 after having been uploaded to Paul's MySpace page, as well as receiving numerous plays on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. The BBC's Zane Lowe made "BTSTU (Demo)" his Hottest Record in the World. On the strength of this demo, Paul was long-listed for the BBC Sound of 2011 poll."Sound of 2011 – Jai Paul", BBC Music. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
Release An edited version of "BTSTU" entitled "BTSTU (Edit)" was officially released on 21 April 2011, via XL Recordings."BTSTU (Edit) on iTunes", iTunes. Retrieved 23 April 2011. The song received airplay again on UK national radio by DJs including Gilles Peterson, Annie Mac, Nick Grimshaw, Reggie Yates, and Fearne Cotton, with Zane Lowe making it his Hottest Record in the World for a second time.Zane Lowe's Hottest Record In The World – Jai Paul – BTSTU, BBC. Retrieved 23 June 2011. Paul commented in 2011 that the name of the track is an acronym for "Back To Save The Universe", a reference to a lyric from the Radiohead song "Airbag".
Critical reception The single received favourable reviews from the Daily Telegraph and American blog 'The Wounded Jukebox'. Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork compared the single to "the unmistakable lope of one J Dilla"."The Top 100 Tracks Of 2011", Pitchfork. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
"BTSTU" was included in the end-of-year lists in 2011 by Pitchfork,"Jai Paul's BTSTU", Pitchfork. Retrieved 20 December 2011. The Fader, and Pigeons and Planes. The Washington Post mentioned "BTSTU" in their 'Singles File: Best of 2011', describing it as "a precursor to the entire career of James Blake".
Legacy The song has been influential on underground as well as mainstream pop music in the 2010s. The song had struck a chord internationally. The Canadian rapper Drake leaked a track titled "Dreams Money Can Buy" which sampled "BTSTU (Demo)" in May 2011, which got resampled by Charli XCX in June 2012. In July 2011 the song was sampled again for Travis Garland and JoJo's duet "Paint","Travis Garland – Paint ft JoJo", Singers Room. Retrieved 23 July 2011. and New York singer-songwriter Niia uploaded a cover version of "BTSTU" to her SoundCloud page."Niia BTSTU", Soundcloud. Retrieved 23 August 2011. The 2012 song "End of Time" by Beyoncé also sampled the song.
Track listing
Personnel Jai Paul – vocals, electric guitar, drums, synthesizers, programming, SFX, engineering, mixing, sound design Anup Paul – additional vocals, sound design, mastering Sam Pickering – saxophone Dave Cooley – mastering
Charts Chart (2011) Peakposition UK Singles (Official Charts Company) 139
Release history Version Date Format Label Demo 2010Digital download Edit 21 April 2011XL 6 June 2011 CD-R Remastered 1 June 2019 12-inch single
References